Spurs notebook: Joseph learned from friend Nash

As a member of the Canadian national team, Spurs point guard Cory Joseph spent part of his summer working out with the squad’s general manager.

That just so happened to be Los Angeles Lakers point guard Steve Nash.

Before the Spurs’ just-completed first-round sweep of the Lakers, Joseph never imagined he might one day square off with his hero in the NBA playoffs.

An afterthought just a few weeks ago, Joseph surpassed French rookie Nando De Colo as the Spurs’ backup point guard just before the start of the playoffs.

In Games 1 and 2 against the Lakers — before the 39-year-old Nash succumbed to a hamstring injury that kept him out of Games 3 and 4 — the two Canadians often found themselves sharing the floor.

“It was great to go against one of the guys I looked up to when I was young,” Joseph said. “But on the court, we’re not friends.”

In his second season out of the University of Texas, Joseph made his playoff debut in Game 1. He performed well backing up Tony Parker throughout the series, which ended Sunday, averaging 4.5 points, 3.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds while totaling only three turnovers.

“You just hope a player that is doing it for the first time can be stable and solid and perform in a manner that doesn’t hurt his club,” coach Gregg Popovich said.

Popovich was impressed with the manner in which the 21-year-old Joseph handled the pressure cooker of his first postseason.

“When you enter the playoffs, you know the intensity level increases a few decibels. That suits him,” Popovich said. “He’ll continue to compete. That’s what made us choose him in the end.”

T-Mac’s breakthrough: Though Tracy McGrady’s stint of 5:15 late in a 103-82 victory in Game 4 was hardly instrumental in the Spurs’ sweep of L.A., the 33-year-old forward can now say he’s been past the first round of the playoffs.

A seven-time All-Star, McGrady — signed just before the start of the postseason — had been the only scoring champion in league history never to have won a playoff series.

McGrady lost each of his first eight postseason matchups playing for Toronto, Orlando, Houston and Atlanta. New York’s Marcus Camby owns the NBA’s longest active series losing streak, going nine in a row without advancing. The Knicks are up 3-1 against Boston.

Howard sorry: A few hours after being ejected from Game 4, Lakers center Dwight Howard took to Twitter to apologize to fans. “Im (sic) sorry for letting our team and fans down when they needed me most,” Howard’s multi-post Twitter stream read in part.